Boyd Valley, 04 November (12 pegs)

I didn't fish this one, fortunately, hence the sketchy results. I say fortunately as those that did turn up were greeted by snow and rain and a lack of peg numbers to do the draw with. I did consider, for a fleeting moment, jumping out of bed at 8am to make the short journey down to Boyd with the draw bag and numbers but after a quick look out of the window I soon jumped back into bed with a warm wife and a cup of coffee for company .... well ok, i never even bothered to get out of bed!
Anyway, the match was won convincingly by Simon Belcham  with an impressive display of method feeder fishing on the swingtip with corn on the hook for 67lbs 4oz. 
The club's youngest member, Ryan Radford, took second place with 26-8 also catching on corn. 
Unfortunately Ryan wasn't in the pools so second in the money and third overall was Matt Taynton with 24-12 (corn again).

Overall result:

1. Simon Belcham ...... 67-4
2. Ryan Radford ......... 26-8
3. Matt Taynton ......... 24-12
4. Brian Shanks ......... 14-12
5. Pete Uzzell ............ 14-7
6. Alan Healy ............. 14-4
7. Mark Radford ......... 13-0
8. Paul Reed .............. 5-0
9. Derek Lucas ........... 3-8
10. Darren North ...... early bath

Boyd Valley, 04 march (12 pegs)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to fish this one but even so, due to the ongoing problems with my phone(s), i still managed to mess up as 13 turned up for this 12 peg venue!
Still, never mind, as I had a thouroughly enjoyable dinner at Farrells retaurant in Keynsham and seeing as it was a very cold, wet, windy and miserable morning I wasn't overly bothered!
Thankfully, the carp showed at last resulting in some decent weights and a close result.


Full result:  sorry no peg numbers or silvers weights!

1. Rich Britton ...... 59-12
2. Darren north .... 58-5
3. Chris Gay ........ 52-4
4. keith Ray ......... 50-0
5. Simon Belcham .. 46-0
6. Alan Healy ........ 21-9
7. Bob Warren ...... 19-12
8. Derek Lucas ..... 14-10
9. Paul Reed ........ 11-4
10. Mike Wilson ..... ?
11. Steve Wynne ..... dnw
12. Trigger ............. dnw (see below) 

Funnily enough, a couple of weeks back I mentioned that with the weather warming up some of the club's fairweather muggers members were stirring from their winter hibernation and making a welcome reappearance and that it wouldn't be long before legendary carp-magnet, Craig Trigger Edmunds would be gracing us with his presence.
And sure enough, right on cue, that day had come.  But unfortunately it seems  he jumped the gun a bit as my bankside spies told me that he packed up halfway through the match complaining of hypothermia.
I suspect however, that he had a call from his girlfriend who is due to produce a "mini Trig" any time soon, demanding extra supplies of custard donuts and catfood to satisfy her pregnancy cravings!

Please note that the monthly club meeting is on Tuesday night where I will be taking bookings for Acorn, old lake (11 March),  Shiplate (18 March) and Walters lake, South Cerney (1 April).
Although we haven't had a match at Walters before, a few members have fished there and it was one of the venues that was put forward when we discussed new places to book so it will be interesting to see how many book in for this one!
If you are unable to make the meeting you can contact me in the week to book into matches if spaces are available.
My work phone (07979647233) should be back up and running from Tuesday onwards or alternatively you can get hold of me on 07583295430  evenings and weekends.
On a lighter note, the picture below has absolutely no relevance to this post whatsoever but if you look closely it shows how to tie a "snowman" rig which may come in handy one day when the carp are a bit tricky!

Boyd, 12 February 2012 (icebreakers at dawn)

A heavy overnight frost meant that the ice which had thinned out considerably (much like Alan Healy's hair) over recent days had returned with a vengeance.  However, half an hour of demolition with various ice-breaking implements soon put paid to that problem.
Unusually, following the ice-breaking barage, the fish were slow to switch on and some were saying after the match that they never had a bite for over 2 hours.
This wasn't the case though for Boyd supremo and one rig expert, Simon Belcham who was catching well from the off on the golden peg, peg 2, with red maggot on the hook and feeding next to nothing.


Over on peg 4 however, in form Alan Healy opted for a more positive approach fishing white maggot and feeding heavily which resulted in a narrow win with 12lbs 6oz of good quality roach which was enough to push Simon into second by just 4oz.

• Pictures courtesy of Roy Garland 

Full result: 

1. Alan Healy ......... peg 4 .... 12-6
2. Simon Belcham* ...... 2 ..... 12-2
3. Bob Warren .............. 12 ... 7-4
4. Dave Tippet .............. 9 ..... 6-1
5. Steve Burgess ........... 8 ..... 5-15
6. Darren North ............ 5 ..... 5-9
7. Keith Ray ................. 1 ..... 4-6
8. Mike Wilson ............. 7 ..... 3-14
9. Steve Wynne ............. 3 .....3-9
10. Kev Jefferies ............ 10 ... 3-12
11. Steve Wynne ............ 3 ...... 3-9
12. Chris Gay ................. 6 ...... 3-6

*golden peg

Addition to the match calendar

As yesterday's match at Viaduct was cancelled due to the weather and there wasn't anything booked for next week I have now booked Boyd for this coming Sunday. Will take bookings at this Tuesday's meeting so see you there!
Draw at 8.30 to allow a bit more time for ice bashing!
Now fully booked